Philab takes in new investors

The controlling stockholder of biotechnology firm Philab Holdings Corp., Hector Thomas Navasero, has trimmed his equity interest in the company to 48 percent from 82.5 percent to give way to new investors, including former mass housing developer Januario Jesus Gregorio Atencio III.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Philab said Navasero had sold 379 million of his shares to Atencio’s Januarius Holdings Inc. and another 500 million shares to Rewa Romina Cristina Santos. These shares combined accounted for 42.6 percent of Philab’s outstanding shares and accounted for the majority of Navasero’s 1.7 billion shares.

All these shares were sold to Santos and Atencio at 25 centavos each, marking a substantial discount from the P2.86 a share closing price when Philab’s shares last traded on the PSE on May 17.

Atencio recently became Philab’s second largest creditor by acquiring P200 million worth of debt paper, part of the assets unlocked after investment house Ampersand Capital was shut down.

The acquisition of 379 million shares in Philab raises Atencio’s stake in the company through ownership of an 18.4-percent equity on top of IOUs held.

The businessman’s interest in Philab, which is into healthcare technology, is in line with his focus on technology businesses after retiring as president of mass housing developer 8990 Holdings. Biz Buzz reported that Atencio is interested in helping revitalize Philab.

Santos is among Philab’s existing minority shareholders.  This deal widens her interest to 29 percent from 4.85 percent.  She held 100 million shares in Philab prior to this deal.

For his part, Navasero’s divestment of a combined 879 million common shares effectively reduces his ownership of Philab from 82.5 percent to 48 percent.  Navasero had long wanted to step down from Philab for “health” reasons but the last chief executive officer, Darlene Berberabe, lasted in office only for a few months.

Trading of Philab shares has been suspended by the PSE starting May 18 this year due to the company’s failure to comply with reportorial requirements.  Prior to the trading suspension, Philab had a market capitalization of some P5.9 billion.

Philab is the first in the Philippines to own and operate a genomic facility offering full genome sequencing and molecular diagnostics for medical cases. Genomics is an area within genetics that is concerned with the sequencing and analysis of genomes as a way to understand diseases. It plans to set up a genomics business process outsourcing hub in Clark to serve the Southeast Asian market.

The company is also one of the country’s foremost providers of laboratory equipment and the oldest business institution servicing the fields of educational, medical and scientific research in the Philippines.